Edinburgh couple’s olive oil is liquid gold

A husband and wife team who fell in love with the richness of bustling Marrakech have now launched a luxury olive oil straight from the sunshine-drenched groves of Morocco.

Currently only available in Bruntsfield, Morocco Gold, made from the Picholine Marocaine olive, is the country’s first extra virgin olive oil.

Made in the foothills of the Atlas mountains the product, sought after by Selfridges, has been selected as a gold award winner in the Food Talk Show awards.

Gordon and Linda Davidson started working on the project three years ago following a decade-long love affair with the north African country.

Now available at 181 Deli in Bruntsfield the entrepreneurial couple, who have been married for nearly 20 years, are keen the “wonderful” product reaches more people, while maintaining a high quality and traceability.

Linda said: “This is the original superfood! As well as a wonderful product it has fantastic health benefits. Consumers are increasingly focussing on the Mediterranean diet as a way of improving lifestyle and health of which high-quality extra virgin olive oil is a cornerstone.

“We also believe that customers who care about the quality of the food they eat should be able to have absolute trust in the products that they are buying. That is why we have set a new standard for traceability, authenticity and provenance, to guarantee the extra virgin quality of Morocco Gold.”

Husband Gordon, who has had a long career in food and drink business consultancy said in a market where people have lost faith in the truth behind the label, Morocco Gold aims to reassert some confidence.

“We’re on a bit of a mission to re-introduce some integrity into this particular market that has suffered from oils that are a million miles from being ‘extra virgin’ being labelled as such.

“We are doing this as a bit of a challenge to the sector. This is a guaranteed extra virgin olive oil – it comes from that first cold pressings in the season when you get the high quality “green” stage where the nutrients come from.”

The couple, who split their time between Edinburgh and Marrakech, even add the oil to their breakfast to squeeze out all the health benefits.

Gordon added: “It actually tastes really wonderful. There are some oils that when you get them very young can almost be on the aggressive side but Morocco Gold has a nice balance of green fruitiness but still has a peppery kick. We think it’s a really good match for the UK palates.”